Business News Round Up (11/05/2026)
UK popularity among foreign direct investors lowest since pandemic
The UK is the least attractive it has been to foreign investors since 2020, having fallen to sixth in Kearney’s annual ranking of the market. Japan takes its former place, as investors cite industrial policy uncertainty as a key deterrent. The cumulative value of FDIs around the world had fallen steeply in the years before the pandemic – crashing to a decade-long low in 2018 – but has been rebounding rapidly since. In 2021, the level of FDIs had already increased to more than $2 trillion, for the first time since 2016. The UK has among the leading beneficiaries of that rallying market. For the previous five years, research from strategy consultancy Kearney found that the UK was in the top five most attractive destination for FDI in the world – hitting a high of third in 2025, behind the US and Canada.
Office space shortage: growing businesses may be ‘forced to stand still’ without more Grade A development
Key cities in the UK are at risk of running out of premium office space within months, a new report from Cushman & Wakefield has shown. The firm’s latest National Office Moves report shows businesses expanded across all regions and office size bands in 2025 – a positive change on previous years when some areas reported downsizing. More than twice as many office occupiers who moved in 2025 expanded their footprints, rather than reducing them. But it showed that dwindling Grade A supply caused by a lack of new developments means space is at a premium in the areas measured – with premium space in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester likely to be absorbed in under a year. The report analyses the UK’s ‘Big Five’ regional markets of Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, and Manchester, as well as the South East. It showed that of the 228 office deals by existing office occupiers, 156 saw footprint growth.
163k jobs at risk from slow growth and rising prices
Slowing growth and rising energy prices will lead more than 160,000 job losses across the UK economy, according to a key forecaster. EY Item Club expects the manufacturing, construction and retail to be particularly hard hit by the effects of the Iran War on the supply chain. The forecaster, which uses the Treasury’s economic modelling, is estimating a net loss of 163,000 jobs this year, representing a 0.4% drop in employment. Energy-intensive sectors will be hardest hit and the effects will spread to retail, accommodation and hospitality as disposable income is squeezed. The unemployment rate is on course to rise above 5% in Glasgow from a 4.3% average recorded last year. Cambridge is the only major city where overall employment is on course to grow modestly over the year. Public sector jobs are likely to largely escape the jobs cull, the Item Club said.
UK Finance publishes nine-point plan to support UK economic growth
UK Finance has published Plan for Growth: From Strategy to Delivery, a new report outlining a practical roadmap for how the financial services sector can help deliver the government’s economic growth ambitions. The Government’s strategies to grow the economy – spanning industrial renewal, infrastructure, housing, SMEs, trade and financial inclusion – all depend on a strong and agile financial services sector with the capacity and confidence to support, lend and invest. The report is therefore a practical document which identifies nine priority Growth Enablers grounded in the government and regulators’ existing financial services reform agenda. It sets out what needs to be delivered, by whom and when, and where moving faster or going further could unlock greater gains for people and businesses. Delivering these reforms will require clear sequencing, strong accountability, and sustained collaboration between government, regulators, and industry.